Iron minder

ABSTRACT

An iron minder attachment for an ironing board to controllably position and support an iron such as a steam iron which has an adjustable foot means secured to the board and a flexible arm fastened to the foot at one end for universal movement. The arm is directed to extend generally parallel over the board and carries an inclined plane means at its other end. The arm is disposed off center to extend from one side of the plane and it has a bend in the arm adjacent the plane and out of the plane surface. The lower end of the plane is positioned to enter the handle opening of an iron on the ironing board so the iron may be pushed onto the plane where it is simultaneously cammed up the plane and forced, by the off center arm side extension, to drop into the bend nose-up for storage with only the iron heel touching the board. The plane/arm connection may be a pivoted connection for opposite-hand ironing so the device may be used by either a right or left handed person.

Unite States Patent Davidson Dec. 16, 1975 IRON MINDER Primary ExaminerRoy D. Frazier [75] Inventor. William E. Davidson, Ontario, Calif. Assistant ExaminerRodney H Bonck Assigneei General Elecnic p y, Attorney, Agent, or FirmJohn F. Cullen; George R.

p rt, COnn. Powers; Leonard J. Platt [22] Filed: June 28, 1974 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl' 484296 An iron minder attachment for an ironing board to controllably position .and support an iron such as a [52] US. Cl. 248/117.1; 38/142; 248/l17.7 Steam iron which has an adjustable foot means se- [51] Int. Cl. D06F 75/40 cured to the board and a flexible arm fastened to the [58] Field of Search 248/ 117.2, 117.1, 117.3, foot at one end for universal movement. The arm is 248/ 117.5, 117.4, 117.6, 117.7, 160, 176; directed to extend generally parallel over the board 38/42, 96, 107, 142; D7/205 and carries an inclined plane means at its other end. The arm is disposed off center to extend from one side [56] References Cited of the plane and it has a bend in the arm adjacent the UNITED STATES PATENTS plane and out of the plane surface. The lower end of 561,245 6/1896 Wagner 248/1 17.7 the Plane P08190118? te enter the handle epemng of 1,045,123 11/1912 Clisby..... 248/1177 en the emng beard F F may be 1,110,190 9/1914 Dodgenm 248/117] pushed onto the plane where it is simultaneously 1,429,081 9/1922 146611161 248/1176 Cammed p the Flame and forced, y the Off Center 1,480,761 1/1924 HOOk 248/1 17.4 arm side extension, to p into the bend p for 1,669,858 5/1928 Cameron 248/117.7 storage with only the iron heel touching the board. 2,915,269 12/1959 Fleming 248/ 1 17.7 The plane/arm connection may be a pivoted c 2,939,667 6/1960 1511151611 248/117.7 tion f oppositehand ironing so the device may be 3,127,141 3/1964 Elhston 248/117.6 used by either a right or left handed person 3,550,888 12/1970 Lehrman..... 248/1l7.2 3,745,676 7/ 1973 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures DikOff I 38/96 US. Patent Dec. 16, 1975 3,926,392

IRON MINDER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l. Field of the Invention The invention pertains to an iron minder attachment for an ironing board to controllably position and support an iron so that the iron may be slid onto the iron minder where it is cammed up an inclined plane to drop into position automatically nose-up with no more than the iron heel touching the board. No lifting whatsoever is required and the attachment is useable for either right or left handed operators.

2. Description of the Prior Art Many types of adjustable iron minders have been proposed that are designed to position the iron in a convenient stored position. These generally involve hooklike hangers easily attached to a variety of ironing boards for suspending the iron. They all require that the operator lift the iron off of the board and place it on the hanger. This constant lifting is tiresome and the iron must be carefully targeted or placed in order to assure that it hangs properly, e.g., nose up for a steam iron. Other prior art devices provide a raised platform that may use the inclined plane like a ramp to slide the iron up the plane to be supported above the ironing board. Such a device uses a fair amount of board area and offers the possibility of tipping the iron if it is slid sideways onto the inclined plane because of the soleplate edge catching the edge of the ramp. In this type of storage means no lifting is required but it does not lend itself to a device for storing the iron nose up which is desired in the event a steam iron is used in order to be sure the steaming stops automatically. Finally, the prior art all requires various accurate placement or targeting to be sure that the iron is properly placed on the hanger or inclined plane in the proper manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly described, the invention is directed to an iron minder attachment for an ironing board that controllably positions and supports any iron such as a steam iron. It uses an adjustable foot means secured to any ironing board with a flexible arm fastened at one end and spaced to extend generally above and parallel over the board. The arm has a preferably triangular inclined plane means at its other free end and the arm and plane are connected off center with the arm extending from one side of the plane. A bend in the arm adjacent the plane and out of the plane surface is provided and the parts disposed so that the plane permits the lower pointed end to enter the handle opening of a boardsupported iron whereby the iron may be merely pushed onto the plane where it is simultaneously cammed up and forced and controllably positioned by the side arm extension to drop into the bend nose-up for storage with no more than the iron heel touching the board. The nose-up position automatically cuts off steaming in most steam irons. The arm and inclined plane may be pivoted so that the plane can be rotated for use by either a right or left handed operator. Thus, the main object is to provide an improved iron minder that requires no lifting, does not mar the iron finish, stores the iron to prevent any scorching, automatically shuts off the steam in a steam iron, is easily and adjustably connected to contemporary ironing boards, and generally to provide an iron minder at which the iron can be literally thrown in a sweeping motion and that captures the iron and controllably positions and supports it in a novel manner. Removing the iron from the minder is equally effortless since the'iron uncouples with a pull and slides down the inclined plane to an ironing position onthe ironing board, and in a steaming mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT While the invention is applicable to any iron, it is especially pertinent to a steam iron and will be described in connection therewith.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown the iron minder attachment for an ironing board to controllably position and support an iron such as a steam iron and comprising an adjustable foot means, generally indicated at 10, that may be formed of a U-shaped piece of sheet metal 12 formed to clamp on the down-turned flange of a typical ironing board as shown in FIG. 3. Clamping is by a plurality of locking screws 14 extending through the sheet metal and bearing on the straddled flange in an obvious manner. If a standard non-flanged wood ironing board is used the sheet metal 12 may have a bent portion 16 that can be secured to the bottom of the ironing board off of the ironing surface by suitable screws as will be obvious. Thus, foot 10 is adjustable in that it may be placed at any suitable place along the ironing board and then secured by screws through bent portion 16 or by clamping screws 14 as shown in FIG. 1.

In order to provide a support for the iron, a flexible 7 arm 18, that may be formed of heavy, and preferably plastic-coated wire, is shaped and fastened at one end to foot means 10 by a spline and ear arrangement generally shown at 20 to permit universal adjustment of arm 18. The arm is secured at its one end to the foot by cup-pointed set screw 22 and is directed upwardly and outwardly so that it is spaced to extend generally parallel over the board as seen in FIG. 3. Thus, the arm may be placed in any suitable position to receive an iron as will be explained.

In order to controllably position and support an iron conveniently and without any careful positioning, the other end of the arm is provided with an inclined plane means 24 that is generally formed of aplastic surface of non-marring low coefficient-of-friction material such as nylon. This is formed with the arm 18 to provide a downwardly sloping inclined plane as clearly seen in FIG. 3. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inclined plane may be a separate component secured to the arm by a formed boss pivot means 26 as shown in FIG. 2 so'that the arm 18 may be bent around the boss and the plane 24 thus can be rotated from one extreme end position shown in FIG. 1 to an opposite extreme end position.

When a steam iron is used, it is essential that it be stored nose up so no water reaches the soleplate and thus steaming is automatically cut off. In standard ironing this is obtained by turning the iron onto its heel rest position. To provide such proper automatic storage of a steam iron, arm 18 is provided with a bend 28 that is immediately adjacent the plane 24 and bends out of the plane surface so that it forms a hook to support an iron handle. To ensure the iron is automatically positioned properly, it is preferable to make the inclined plane triangular with the flexible arm 18 extending from a position at one end 30 of base 32 of the triangle and the opposite apex 34 is thus directed downwardly and forwardly to the handle opening 36 of a typical steam iron 38 supported on ironing board 40. The automatic positioning is enhanced by making base 32 substantially as wide as the handle opening 36. The parts are so disposed and arranged as shown in FIG. 3, that the triangular inclined plane means 24 is positioned nose down substantially at the top of the opening 36 so that plane 24 enters the handle opening of a board-supported iron whereby the iron is simultaneously cammed up the surface of the plane and at the same time is forced, by the position of arm 18 entering the side of base 32 and the width of the base, to drop into a nose-up position for a right handed user as shown in FIG. 4. In this position, the parts may be arranged so that no more than the heel of the iron touches the board 40 so that the iron is safely stored. In a steam iron, the nose-up position automatically cuts off any steaming so that it is not necessary to actuate steam button 42. Arm 18 may be locked at end 30 position by suitable locking means 44 forming plastic embossments on the underside of the plane as shown. The parts are flexible enough that plane 24 may be slightly bent and snapped into a locking position shown in FIG. 1.

The minder is adaptable to either a right or left handed user so that, the device may be used for opposite-hand ironing by merely rotating plane 24 out of the locked end position shown in FIG. 1 and snapping it into the other end position behind a similar embossment 46 whereby it is locked on the arm so the arm extends from the other end of base 32 and a left handed ironer may use the device. Any suitable bumper 48 protects the iron soleplate from becoming nicked and the wire arm 18 may be a singular piece of wire rod uncoated or coated with nylon.

With the device shown, it is never necessary to lift the iron and the user may literally throw the iron onto the minder with the assurance that the triangular shape will enter the handle opening and automatically and controllably position the iron in the supporting nose-up position of FIG. 4 with the hot soleplate off the board. It is not necessary to require accurate positioning and the user need only use peripheral vision in order to slide the iron rapidly in the direction of the arrow of FIG. 3 to push it onto the plane whereupon it slides up the flexible parts to drop into the supporting nonsteaming position shown in FIG. 4. To remove the iron, it is merely necessary to rotate it slightly and slide it off 4 the inclined plane with no lifting required due to the flexibility and the tendency of the iron to easily slide out of bend 28 and down the plane back onto the ironing board 40.

It will be apparent the minder does not require the user to ever lift the iron. The minder can also be coated to prevent nicks and adjusted to prevent scorching of the ironing board surface by permitting no more than the iron heel touching the board in stored position with the hot soleplate suspended. Further, the off center side entrance and the triangular plane automatically and controllably position a steam iron so that steaming is shut off by the nose-up position. Additionally, the device is completely flexible and adjustable for any iron and, with its rotating arrangement, is also fully adaptable to opposite-hand ironing.

While there has been described a preferred form of the invention, obvious equivalent variations are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practised otherwise than as specifically described, and the claims are intended to cover such equivalent variations.

I claim:

1. An iron minder attachment for an ironing board to controllably position and support an iron such as a steam iron having a handle opening and comprising,

an adjustable foot means for securement to a board,

a flexible arm fastened at one end to said foot for universal adjustment,

said arm directed upwardly and including a side extension directed outwardly to extend generally parallel over a board,

an inclined triangular plane means at the other end of said arm,

said arm extending from one end position of a base of the triangle with the opposite apex directed to the handle opening of a board-supported iron,

a bend in the arm adjacent the plane,

the lower end of the triangular plane disposed to enter the handle opening of said iron whereby the iron, when pushed onto said plane, is simultaneously cammed up and forced by the arm side extension to drop into said bend nose up for storage with no more than the heel touching the board.

2. Apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein said plane is a non-marring and low friction flexible material with the base substantially as wide as the handle opening.

3. Apparatus as described in claim 2 having pivot means connecting said arm and plane to rotate said plane whereby the arm extends from the other end position of said base for opposite-hand ironing.

4. Apparatus as described in claim 3 having means to lock said plane on said arm in either end base position. 

1. An iron minder attachment for an ironing board to controllably position and support an iron such as a steam iron having a handle opening and comprising, an adjustable foot means for securement to a board, a flexible arm fastened at one end to said foot for universal adjustment, said arm directed upwardly and including a side extension directed outwardly to extend generally parallel over a board, an inclined triangular plane means at the other end of said arm, said arm extending from one end position of a base of the triangle with the opposite apex directed to the handle opening of a board-supported iron, a bend in the arm adjacent the plane, the lower end of the triangular plane disposed to enter the handle opening of said iron whereby the iron, when pushed onto said plane, is simultaneously cammed up and forced by the arm side extension to drop into said bend nose up for storage with no more than the heel touching the board.
 2. Apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein said plane is a non-marring and low friction flexible material with the base substantially as wide as the handle opening.
 3. Apparatus as described in claim 2 having pivot means connecting said arm and plane to rotate said plane whereby the arm extends from the other end position of said base for opposite-hand ironing.
 4. Apparatus as described in claim 3 having means to lock said plane on said arm in either end base position. 